Advanced Chemical Industries or ACI has terminated its equity joint venture agreement with Indian company Dabur, ending a 19-year partnership.
According to an announcement on the Dhaka Stock Exchange or DSE website on Thursday, ACI sold off its 24 per cent market share to Dabur to bring an end to the agreement.
The Dabur products ACI used to sell include honey, chayawanprash, hair oil, shampoo, face pack, etc.
Monir Hossain, ACI’s share department official, said: “The decision to sell off the share came from the management. We’re not being able to make the desired profits as far as I know.”
In 2003, ACI bought a 24 per cent share of Asian Consumer Care Private Ltd, a concern of Dabur International Dubai, to enter an agreement with the mother company.
A financial report of Asian Consumer Care showed that the company’s profit dropped by one-third in 2021-22 in comparison to 2018-19.
In 2018-19, the company made Tk 125 million in profit, which declined to Tk 77.8 million in the following year and plunged to Tk 42.9 million in 2020-21.
The Asian Consumer Care factory located in Dhamrai produces hair oil, toothpaste and honey, among other products. Listed in the capital market, the company had 35.33 million shares. ACI owned 8.48 million of those.
Each share is priced at Tk 10. ACI sold off each share at Tk 60.75 premium to Dabur International Dubai, which accumulates to a total cost of Tk 70.75 per share, bringing ACI almost Tk 600 million for the shares.
ACI is part of four joint ventures: Tetley ACI Ltd, ACI Godrej Agrovet Ltd, Asian Consumer Care and ACI CO-RO Bangladesh Ltd.
On Thursday, each ACI Ltd share was traded at Tk 279.1 on the capital market. The price for each share was Tk 278.2 on Wednesday.
ACI, which was listed on the stock market in 1976, has 72.57 million shares. Of these, sponsor directors own 35.28 per cent, organisational investors 40.75 per cent and general shareholders 23.97 per cent.
ACI’s current capital stands at Tk 20.19 billion. Its paid-up capital is Tk 725.8 million with Tk 8.61 billion in reserves, reports bdnews24.com.